Method and apparatus for transaction recording and visualization

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for recording and visualizing transactions of a test bench simulation are disclosed. Transaction-specific data generated from a test bench simulation may be displayed in a sequence diagram view to provide a view of the transactions arranged sequentially in time.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 receiving, at one or more computer systems, information generated in response to a simulation of a device under test with a test bench, the information comprising transactions and transaction passing and temporal relationships between multiple test bench components; 
 generating, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a transaction database as a response to the received information; and 
 generating and displaying, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an element of a sequence diagram that visually represents both a temporal sequence between two or more data elements of a transaction between at least two test bench components and a transaction passing sequence between each of the two or more data elements according to the transaction database; wherein a transaction represented by an element in the sequence diagram is selected from data passed between two sequencers and data passed between a sequencer and a driver. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein each database transaction comprises a name of the transaction, a start time of the transaction, and an end time of the transaction. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  wherein each database transaction comprises an interface data on which the transaction occurs. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1  wherein each database transaction comprises a name of a variable associated with the transaction, and a value for the variable at a selected time. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3  wherein the interface comprises a test bench component imitating a request and a test bench component returning a response to the request. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1  further comprising generating a waveform view of the simulation using the transaction database. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6  further comprising identifying a portion of the waveform corresponding to the time of a transaction represented by an element in the sequence diagram. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1  further comprising enabling tracing of a transaction represented by the element of the sequence diagram either forward or backward in time. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least two test bench components are selected from the sequencer and the driver. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1  further comprising visually expanding a transaction represented by the element of the sequence diagram into one or more lower-level transactions. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1  further comprising collapsing one or more transactions represented by the element of the sequence diagram into a higher-level transaction. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1  further comprising displaying attributes of a transaction represented by the sequence diagram. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving source code for the simulation; 
 generating a source code database; 
 generating a source code view of the simulation from the source code database; 
 generating a synchronized source code view based on synchronizing the source code view of the simulation with the sequence diagram; and 
 and generating information configured to display the synchronized source code view. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating a waveform view of the simulation from the transaction database; 
 generating a synchronized waveform view based on synchronizing the waveform view of the simulation with the sequence diagram; and 
 generating information configured to display the synchronized waveform view of the simulation.